The Return of the World's Destructive Hero
Chapter 15: Between Life and Death

Adventurer guild, on a sunny morning Jugo and his party arrive to take some monster hunting quests. At that moment Lina the receptionist ran towards him with a very worried face.

"What's Lina-chan?" Looking worried about Lina, Jugo asks about what happened.

"A~ did you guys see Satoru-san?!" Lina shouted in panic.

"No, doesn't she go to her school in the morning?" Jugo answered hesitantly, knowing that Satoru is a student from the magic academy in the capital.

"What happened to Lina-san?" One of the party members interrupted the conversation.

"S~ actually..." Lina tells the story of Satoru who has not returned after taking a quest in the middle of the night. The entire guild became panicked after hearing that.

"What!! Satoru hasn't returned from all night!!?" Jugo shouted in shock at hearing that.

They all know the ability possessed by Satoru, there is no way he will lose against the monster in the forest. Remembering he had once solo destroyed a goblin nest in the forest and could defeat Jugo in a duel.

"There's no way Satoru can be defeated by monsters in the forest there, something's not right..." Jugo muttered while thinking about what was going on.

"Lina-chan, have someone go to the academy to check if Satoru is there or not. Me and my party are going to go to that forest!" Jugo immediately made a firm decision and departed with his party to the forest near the city.

They can't walk casually considering someone's life is under threat. "You all hurry! we have to find Satoru no matter what!"

"Yes!!!"

Losing an adventurer would potentially make a huge loss to the guild. Not only because of that, they had all considered Satoru as a reliable partner.

Upon entering the forest they did not find a single monster like the one Satoru had experienced that night.

What the hell is going on here? I don't feel any monsters...

After exploring the forest they reached the goblin cave earlier and saw the scattered corpses of bandits.

"S~ what exactly is going on here...?" Jugo was confused by what was happening in front of him.

While others were checking the bodies of the bandits, one of the party members shouted. "Yu-san!! everyone come here!"

Hearing that shout, Also and the others went to see what their friend had found. A large hole in the ground and the destroyed trees made a path in the forest.

"A~ what happened here...?" They were all astonished by the thing that was in front of them.

They decided to follow a path made from the destruction of the trees there to see two people lying on the ground.

"That's..! Sator!!!" Jugo and the others immediately ran towards where Satoru was lying.

"I~ this...demon...?" The witch in the party checked the corpse beside Satoru.

"Is it Satoru-san who defeated this demon alone?" The other party members spoke as they saw the demon head on the ground detached from its body.

"We think about it later, right now our priority is to save Satoru" Jugo lifted Satoru's body slowly and brought him back to the city to be treated.

While the other party members take care of what happens in the forest and take magic stones and materials from the demon.

Arriving at the guild, everyone was shocked to see Satoru who was severely injured. Lina immediately ran towards Jugo who was carrying Satoru.

"What's going on!? why could Satoru-san be so badly injured!?" Lina panicked and asked Jugo about Satoru's condition.

"Calm down Lina-chan, right now we need to treat Satoru first. We'll explain it to you later" Jugo tries to calm Lina down and takes Satoru to the guild's rest room to be treated by witches and doctors.

In the guild head's room...

Jugo's party faced the guild master to report what was happening in the forest. Regarding the bandit group that perished, there was not a single monster and a demon that was defeated.

"So, you're saying that if a band of bandits were wiped out, there wasn't a monster and there was a demon that was defeated?" Said the guild master.

"Yes!" All of Jugo's parties simultaneously answered the guild master's remarks.

"Then we must report it to His Majesty the King immediately!" Hearing that, Jugo stood up.

"No! Wait Jugo!" The guild master stopped Jugo who was about to exit the room. "Right now our kingdom has summoned heroes from another world and they are already in the academy tomorrow"

Hearing that everyone who was in the guild master's room was shocked. "Hero has been summoned!?"

"Then, the resurrection of the demon lord is near?" Said party member Jugo.

"Yes... Jugo come with me to the palace tomorrow and bring the corpse of the demon" Guild Master said.

Jugo who did not accept it refused firmly "No! it was clear that the ownership rights of the demon corpse had Satoru! How could we just give it to the kingdom!"

"Then I will pay for everything and leave behind the demon's magic crystal to give to Satoru" The guild master who understood what Jugo said gave a better suggestion.

"In that case, I won't mind..." After the discussion ended, they immediately went to the palace after taking out the demon's magic Cristal.

In the guild's dugout...

Satoru was lying on the bed, his injuries were treated by the doctors. Even so he still showed no signs of being conscious from his sleep.

"Hey, is Satoru-san going to be okay!?" The worried Lin asked the doctor who was doing the treatment on Satoru.

"Yes, all his wounds have been treated. However, his body was quite strange. The healing magic had no effect whatsoever, which was why we could only rely on potions and traditional medicine. Now we can only hope that Satoru is now between life and death" the doctor said with a heavy heart.

Everyone could only remain silent and the atmosphere in the guild became silent after hearing the doctor's remark.

The subconscious of Satoru...

He awakens in a white room with no end, similar to when he saw his grandfather's shadow while fighting demons in the forest.

Am I really dead now?

Where was the river before?

Satoru was still lying down while thinking about what had happened before. He was relieved to have defeated the demon.

"Satoru.. hey Satoru!" In his ears was someone calling his name.

Satoru got up from his sleep and looked around, he found no one there.

Who the hell is talking?

After looking around at no one, Satoru was startled by a hand holding his shoulder from behind.

"Yeah!!!" The man jumped back in surprise.

"Ka~ grandpa!!?" Upon seeing the person holding his stage, Satoru recognized him and none other than that person was his deceased grandfather.

"Long time no see Satoru" The grandfather greeted his grandson with a smile.

"I~ yes... long time no see grandpa..." Satoru returned his grandfather's greeting nervously. "Eh! not so!!! am I dead now!?" Satoru shouted remembering that he was dead or not.

The grandfather approached Satoru and held both of his shoulders. "Are you going to give up on your life just like that Satoru? there's still so much you want to do, right!?"

"of course! I want to go to a dungeon and fight many powerful monsters! but... After fighting against that demon, I realized that I was still weak..." Satoru showed a sad look on his face when he realized his weakness.

"You are not weak Satoru! you're stronger than anyone! those who can defeat you just because they can use magic and strengthen their bodies instantly. You're different from them! you've been training hard to increase your strength, without any outside energy help!" The grandfather advised and tried to raise Satoru's spirit which was beginning to disappear.

"Compared to people who gain strength instantly without any training, you are stronger than them because you have fought harder than anyone to be strong! After all, you are already aware of your weakness, then it will also make you stronger than before"

Hearing that, Satoru was silent for a moment, then lowered his head to the grandfather. "Thank you, grandfather! and. I'm sorry I showed my pitiful self before"

"Then I have to leave first, there are still a lot of people waiting for me there!" Satoru ran towards the opposite direction from the grandfather while waving his hand "Sorry grandfather, I still can't catch up with you to the realms there!"